"This unique partnership gives VMware and Novell customers a simplified and lower-cost way to virtualize and manage their IT environments, from the data center to fully virtualized data centers," said Joe Wagner, Novell senior vice president and general manager for global alliances, in a statement released by the two companies.

"With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware, we provide customers a proven enterprise Linux operating platform with subscription to patches and updates at no additional cost, improving their ability to complete the transformation of their data center into a private cloud while further increasing their return on investment," said Raghu Raghuram, senior vice president and general manager for virtualization and cloud platforms at VMware, also in a statement.

VMware also will offer an option to purchase technical support services for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware, providing a seamless support experience, the companies said.